Tamil families gathered at the Sampur Memorial Monument on 7 July 2025 to mark the 35th anniversary of the Sampur Massacre, with survivors and civil society groups once again urging an international justice mechanism for the atrocities committed by Sri Lankan security forces.
The remembrance event was led and attended by victims’ families, human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, civil society organisations, and political representatives. Speakers at the commemoration reflected on the massacre’s devastating legacy and the continued lack of accountability, even decades later.
On 7 July 1990, Sri Lankan soldiers launched a brutal assault on Tamil civilians in Sampur. At approximately 2:00 p.m., armed troops opened fire indiscriminately on residential settlements, prompting terrified residents to flee into the nearby scrub forests of Chakkaravattavan with their children in tow.
Tamil men who had taken shelter in the jungle were hunted down by Sri Lankan security forces, slashed, shot, and burned to death.
That day alone, 57 Tamil civilians were killed in what has become one of the most harrowing massacres in the Eastern Province. More than 150 Tamils are thought to have been killed in the offensives overall. Thirty-five years on, justice remains elusive.
At the commemoration, families of the victims reiterated their demand for justice and accountability.
The event forms part of a broader movement across the North-East where Tamil communities continue to commemorate massacres and enforced disappearances, despite ongoing state surveillance and obstruction.
